WASHINGTON (WUSA) -- January 13, 2012 marks the 30th anniversary of a Metro crash that killed three people. A car of a Metro train derailed on the same snowy day in 1982 as the Air Florida Crash.

On Jan. 13, 1982, a train on the Orange Line was backing up through over a crossover switch between Federal Triangle and Smithsonian during the evening rush hour when a car derailed and crashed into a pillar between two tunnels. The Blue and Orange lines were shut down.

Some passengers who were able to walk away after the crash told WUSA's Bruce Johnson that they spent 45 minutes in the dark inside the car before rescue workers could pry open the train doors and guide them to safety. At least one person was trapped, according to that early report.

A follow-up report from Bruce Johnson in 1982 says that during a news conference DC Mayor Marion Barry and Police Chief Turner applauded the city's emergency operations that day. They both blamed the snow and ice for delaying the response time of the emergency equipment to the disasters. The police chief said he had formed a task force to make recommendations about how to improve radio communications between area jurisdictions, citing that there had been problems but none that contributed to the number of fatalities.